Letters to the editor for Friday, December 7, 2012

In response to "Get the facts straight" (Dec. 3), I would like to say that the First Amendment is not about freedom of worship, but freedom of religion.

In response to "Get the facts straight" (Dec. 3), I would like to say that the First Amendment is not about freedom of worship, but freedom of religion.

It is every bit a part of their religious belief how the Catholic Church runs its schools and hospitals as it does its worship services. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

I am not Catholic, but I believe, as they do, that my faith goes beyond the walls of the church building into every part of my life. The free exercise of my religion is protected by the Constitution. Whenever and wherever.

Daniel P. Whitley

Clintondale

I was watching the Sunday morning news shows, all of which had one thing in common, a lot of old white men and women talking out of both sides of their faces.

The subject matter was about some delusional physical cliff. It reminded me of that Allstate commercial wherein its pitch woman is pointing to boxes and charts talking about the great deals waiting inside but there is nothing but a green screen in reality. It's a great marketing gimmick.

Yes, we fought a real illegal war on a credit card that W and his father started before 9/11 but that gave them the opportunity to declare a war and enact a war act here at home after 9/11. We paid a bigger price than the national debt for that. We lost our due process in the process.

The war is over. We killed the terrorist responsible for 9/11. Obama needs to sign off on that and the rest of it will fall into place. The military-industrial complex is the problem and cutting them across the board is the solution. Give me liberty or give me death is what I'm saying.

Robert J Schaefer

Liberty

In light of the most recent election, there appears to be a major misconception of what the federal government's role in an individual's life should be.

A case in point, a recent letter writer states, and I quote, "the very first paragraph of the U.S. Constitution says the government should provide for the welfare of the people ..." The foremost realization should be that we "the people" are the government ... we are supposed to be a self-governing nation; there is no man behind the curtain who magically provides for all.

Secondly, the letter writer incorrectly uses the phrase "provide for the welfare of the people"; our constitutional framework does not provide anything for anyone with one exception, "for the common defense." It does, however, "promote the general welfare" while also securing the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.

If we are to survive as a self-governing nation, we must immediately re-embrace first-principle ideas. The clear, unfortunate other choice: Continue to follow the progressives' regulatory nanny state agenda, where we are surely destined to be governed by those who have nothing but disdain for the founders and for our Constitution — eventually living in servitude to those very same people.